Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrcsharp | Hacker News Reader

> And let’s be clear: We don't need AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). We don't need a digital god. We just need software that works.

We (You and I) don't. Shareholders absolutely need it for that line to go further up. They love the idea of LLMs, AI, and AGI for the sole reason that it will help them reduce the cost of labour massively. Simple as that.

> I will use what creates value for me. I will not buy anything that is of no use to me.

If only everyone was thinking this way. So many around these parts have no self-preservation tendencies at all.

View on HN

I don't think any of the people at the top actually believe world's-most-average-answer generator is a path that leads us to AGI. It's just a marketing boogeyman and a handy excuse to remove any remnants of agency that the workforce currently has.

Nobody is using tools that create no value for them, that’s an absurd argument. Many are overclocking their AI use because of their self preservation instinct.

A bit more nuanced: nobody is using tools that have a perceived negative value.

People pushing AI desperately want to convince us the value is positive. 10x productivity! Fire all your humans!

In reality, depending on the use-case, the value is much smaller. And can be negative thinking about the total value over long term (incomprehensible shoddy foundations of large / long running projects)

Yeah, that’s right. I’m reacting to the author’s statement (I won’t use tools that have negative value) to assert that it’s essentially a vapid statement. I wish the author made arguments such as yours.

It's a little alarming to hear from people whose managers have actually told them they expect 10x as much output. How could any competent person, no matter how optimistic, think it works that way? I guess the answer is in my question.

I'm thankful at the moment that I work for a boring company. I want to leave for something more interesting, but at least I can say that our management isn't blowing a bunch of money on AI and trying to use it to get rid of expensive developers. Heck, they won't even pay for Claude Code. Tightwads.

Have you ever met a smoker?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com